246 Making the American Thoroughbred 



He alluded to the intense excitement and extravagant 

 betting on the Truxton and Greyhound race; said that 

 besides the main bet, he won $1,500 in wearing apparel, 

 and that his friend Patton Anderson, after betting all his 

 money and the horse he rode to the race, staked 15 of the 

 finest horses on the ground belonging to other persons, 

 many of them having ladies saddles on their backs. 

 "Now," said he, "I would not have done that for the 

 world, but Patton did it, and as he won, and treated to a 

 whole barrel of cider and a basket full of ginger cakes, he 

 made it all right." 



He recounted a thrilling incident, also, which occurred 

 at Clover Bottom, after the race of Doublehead and 

 Expectation, which illustrated his maxim that "rashness 

 sometimes is policy, and then I am rash." 



"After the race," said he, "I went to the stable to see 

 the old horse cooled off (it was near the proprietor's 

 dwelling), and about dusk, I observed Patton Anderson 

 approaching in a brisk walk, pursued by a crowd of excited 

 men, with several of whom I was aware he had an old 

 feud. I was bound to make common cause with Patton, 

 and I knew that unless I could check them we would both 

 be roughly handled. I met them at the stile and protested 

 against their course as unmanly, and pledged myself that 

 Patton would meet any one of them at sunrise the next 

 morning and give satisfaction, thus delaying them until 

 Patton had passed into the house. 



"But the leaders of the crowd swore they intended to 

 kill him, and I saw there remained but one chance for us, 

 and that was to bluff them off. I knew they had no cause 

 of quarrel with me, and that they supposed I was armed. 

 Putting my hand behind me, into my coat pocket, I 

 opened a tin tobacco box, my only weapon, and said, 'I 

 will shoot dead the first man who attempts to cross that 



